This is a shortcut way of adding {{metacat|continent}} to a category. For backwards compatibility only, if {{{1}}} is filled in, the template will categorize into a topic category. "By continent" categories are the only ones that do this autocategorizing (in the manner as explained below) into the main category tree (not maintenance/"flat list" parent categories). It's better to add the category manually, since it's possible someone will want to change it with HotCat or something. For example, you may want Category:Buildings by continent categorized in Category:Buildings by location instead of directly in Category:Buildings. Categorization changes based on the structure of the topic category, thus auto-categorization isn't a good idea in this case.

In the example, the template generates a [[Category:Categories by continent (flat list)|Buildings by continent]], [[Category:Buildings| Continent]] (space before Continent) and [[Category:Meta categories]]

{{By continent category/layout
|text='''''This is a by continent category.''''' This category should only contain subcategories. Images should either be in the relevant continent subcategory or in the {{#if:{{{1|}}}|[[:Category:{{{1|}}}|parent category]]|parent category}}.
|lang={{subst:SUBPAGENAME}}
}}<noinclude>
{{translated tag|marker}}
</noinclude>